This is a 3D-metal-printed cylindrically symmetric octet lattice structure made from titanium. The structure fills the space between two nested hyperboloids. Octet lattice structures are ultrastiff and ultralight making them desirable for aerospace applications.

My Contribution

I designed the cylinderically symmetric octet lattice structure and created a parameterized code using OpenSCAD to generate the STL files for 3D printing. I contoured the cylinderically symmetric structure using Netfabb. I performed this work as an intern at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Unit cell and quarter cylinder

Contoured quarter cylinders with outer skins

Cylinder and contoured cylinders

SUSPENSION-BASED FLOW BATTERY, Shown on national Fox News

This is a patent-pending suspension-based flow battery that chemically stores and releases energy. Such flow batteries may allow for further integration of renewable energy sources into the power grid. Flow batteries differ from conventional batteries in that their anode and cathode materials are fluids that must be moved through channels in the battery. Suspension-based flow batteries are more energy dense than other flow battery materials but require a unique structural design because of the carbon black suspended in their anode and cathode materials.

My Contribution

I worked with a team of material scientists to create an appropriate architecture for these materials that allowed for high energetic efficiencies for my Master's thesis at MIT. I performed cost analyses to identify when this type of flow battery would be economical. I also designed, built, and tested the flow batteries shown and found methods to minimize fluid shear and suppress flow instabilities in the batteries.

SOLID-STATE DRIVE (SSD) SANITIZATION, Akamai Technologies, Inc.

This is a patent-pending solid-state drive (SSD) destructive sanitization method that I created as an intern at Akamai. Data sanitization is critical for information security. The highest level of security for sanitizing SSDs can be achieved by disintegration. Commercial disintegrators, however, are large, heavy, and cost over $50,000 making such devices impractical for low-volume sanitization applications. To meet low-volume needs, I created a $300 portable method that can disintegrate SSDs in accordance with outlined National Security Agency (NSA) guidelines for SSD sanitization. My method makes NSA-level destructive sanitization significantly more accessible and has been implemented at Akamai.

My Contribution

I worked on this project independently. The need for a low-cost, low-volume SSD destructive sanitization method and some preliminary design concepts were identified by my supervisor.

Among the 6 blenders tested, sharp-blade blenders such as the Oster® Versa® and Vitamix® TurboBlend Two Speed with high peak powers (≥1380W) and blade speeds (≥28,000 RPM) properly disintegrated 2.5” SSDs in less than 20min

This device is a bag and tether designed to lower children age four and under out of a window in the event of a fire. Current state-of-the-art fire escapes designed to provide a second means of egress from second- or third-story homes are primarily designed for adults. Most fire escapes designed for such homes are collapsible ladders that hook to the bottom of window ledges. Small children, however, are not usually able to climb down ladders rapidly or at all. My team and I worked with owners of collapsable ladders to create a new type of rapid evacuation device designed for toddlers.

My Contribution

I worked on all aspects of this project including market research, bag design, manufacturing, customer interviews, and product evaluation trials.

User testing

Picture highlighting slip prevention tabs on lowering strap

Product concept sketches

Early prototypes

Mother dropping her child out of a window to escape a fire

Users testing our product with a 50-lb weight

AV-SHUNT FLOW MODULATOR DEVICE, CIMIT award-winning surgical implant

This device is a proof-of-concept prototype of a surgical implant designed to keep kidney-failure patients from losing hand tissue due to poor blood circulation. Kidney failure patients must have their blood cleaned using a machine that accesses their blood via an artificial artery to vein (AV) shunt. This shunt can cause poor circulation in the arm of the patient leading to tissue damage in the hand and forearm. My team and I worked with patients and physicians at Brigham and Women's Hospital to create a device that solves this problem by creating an implant that can remotely alter the fluidic resistance of the graft inside the arm by changing the flow cross section of the artificial vein.

My Contribution

I led and participated in design, solid modeling, fabrication, and testing of the mechanisms of this device as the only mechanical engineer on my team of four. I taught my partners basic machining skills and how to use SolidWorks.

WAVE-POWERED RO DESALINATION, Resolute Marine Energy, Inc.

My team and I performed a cost analysis and experimentally verified a mathematical model to design a pressure-smoothing system for a wave-powered reverse osmosis (RO) desalination system for Resolute Marine Energy, Inc. Wave-driven desalination systems have the potential to provide a safe, reliable source of drinking water for over 400 million people. In order to get high-quality potable water from such a system, oscillating pressure pulses from a wave-driven pump have to be smoothed to a constant high pressure and then used to push water through a reverse-osmosis membrane filter. We found that for the given application, accumulators were the most cost-effective pressure-smoothing solution and derived and experimentally verified an equation that helps designers to properly size accumulators to attenuate pressure pulses to a desired level.

My Contribution

I contributed in most parts of this project as the only member of the teams that worked on the project for two semesters. I participated in the analytical derivation of the fluidic capacitance of various geometries and the FEA and experimental verification of the derived results. I also performed the cost analysis for the proposed methods of pressure smoothing.

MASS-MANUFACTURABLE RACE CAR, Design for manufacturing

This is one of seven identical race cars designed and built for a competition race course. The control box module containing the electronics and battery in the middle of the chassis can be popped in and out of each car. For the race, each car drove once around the track, and the control box was transferred from car to car. From this project, I learned how to design a device that uses a variety of manufacturing processes including thermoforming, sheet metal bending, injection molding, and sand casting. I also learned how devices can be designed to be mass produced for minimal cost.

My Contribution

I contributed in the design, solid modeling, and manufacturing of the chassis, suspension, tires, and front axles. I also participated in the general design of every module of the car and also helped assemble every car.

MOBILE HOSPITAL COMPUTING STATION, Product design

This is a mobile workstation designed for healthcare professionals so that they can move their personal items, computing device, paperwork, and medical supplies from room to room. Users complained that current designs are bulky, heavy, difficult to maneuver, look old-fashioned, and have short battery lives. My team and I, with the help of users and purchasers of computers on wheels, designed a product to better meet customer needs. Key features of our design include a small footprint, long battery life, no wires, a hydraulic lift, an articulating tablet mount, and a sleek modern look.

My Contribution

I worked on all mechanical and design aspects of this project including sketching, prototyping, solid modeling, fabrication, assembly, and testing. I also participated in customer interviewing and customer evaluation of the product.

PRECISION HORIZONTAL DESKTOP LATHE, Precision Machine Design

My team and I designed, built, and tested a desktop lathe that can cut with 20-micron accuracy. From this project, I learned how to design flexures for applications that require high repeatability and also how to design for thermal expansion, vibration, and tolerance buildup.

My Contribution

I contributed in the design and machining of the spindle, cross-feed, lead-screw flexure, and power transmission. I helped perform mathematical modeling using homogeneous transformation matrices to take into account thermal expansion, vibration, and tolerance buildup. I also prepared the documentation for every part made for the device.

I created a multi-touch interface for the shown microfluidic chip that allows users to move single living biological cells with their fingertips. While other forms of microfluidic manipulation are defined by prefabricated pathways, this microfluidic/integrated circuit chip and interface allows for flexibility droplet and single cell manipulation. The creation of such an interface was a stepping stone in making single cell and droplet manipulation more accessible and provided an alternative way of interacting with small-scale microfluidic experiments that generated less waste and more accurate results. From this project, I learned to work with various hardware, software, and biochemical issues to design an proof-of-concept interface.

My Contribution

My adviser and I designed and fabricated the interface and programmed the software using MATLAB. I wrote more than half the code and performed most of the tests involving live-cell manipulation.

Setup

Moving cells

MINIATURE FLYWHEEL PNEUMATIC MOTOR, Machining

This device is a pneumatic motor that converts moving air to mechanical rotary motion. I fabricated and assembled the motor by following given part drawings. I learned how to read part drawings and how to use a mill, lathe, drill press, vertical and horizontal saws, and various machine shop tools.

ELECTROLUMINESCENT LEATHER JACKET, Just for fun

I created a Tron-inspired jacket for Halloween using over seventy hand soldered electroluminescent wires that connect to a power source and an on-off switch. Mixed media. Photo by Bryson Mooso.

AIR-JET FINGER STIFFNESS ANALYZER, Instrumentation design

This device is designed to calculate the stiffness of human fingers in the process of grasping an object. It was built to enable neurological scientists at ASU to better understand how hands are controlled by the brain and also to help engineers design robotic hands that more closely mimic human hands than currently available systems. According to our knowledge, no instrument existed that could take this measurement. As a user is about to grasp an object, the air jet fires, and the motion of the finger is captured by an accelerometer located at the tip of the finger.

My Contribution

I worked on this project independently under the supervision of an advisor. I modeled, designed, built, and tested the device. I also wrote the MATLAB code to analyze the data from the accelerometer.

Air jet with accelerometer

Air muscle prototype

Air jet prototype

Pulley prototype

ARDUINO-CONTROLLED SENSOR TANK, Electronics for mechanical systems

My partner and I assembled and programmed an Arduino-controlled tank that primarily uses photosensors to navigate an obstacle course. From this project, I learned to use H-bridges, photosensors, and many common circuit elements. I became comfortable programming an Arduino Nano.

My Contribution

My partner and I equally contributed in the assembly and programming of the robot.

NONROTATIONAL Z-AXIS FLEXURE STAGE, Precision machine design

This is a fexture stage designed to be 3D-metal printed that is compliant in x,y, and z translations and x and y rotations but is rigid in z rotations defining the z-axis along the axis of the cylinder. The shown structure is a plastic prototype used for testing before the metal prototype is printed. Flexure stages allow for precisely controlled motion and are therefore used in a variety of precision machine design applications.

My Contribution

I designed this flexure using the Freedom, Actuation, and Constraint Topology (FACT) design process as an intern at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for an aerospace application.